Moise de Camondo

Moise arrived in Paris as a child when his father Nissim moved to develop the family’s banking interests.  When he inherited the family home overlooking Parc Monceau, he razed it and rebuilt a mansion styled after Marie-Antoinette’s Petit Trianon.  His wife had left him after five years of marriage and he had custody of their son and daughter.  He was completely devastated at his son’s death in the fledgling airforce of World War I.  His daughter had married well and had no interest in the family mansion and Moise’ 18th century collection.  He decided to leave the whole estate intact to the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts.  He died before the second tragedy hit when his daughter was deported and died in the Auschwitz concentration camp.